


Flowers and Garden Gnomes

by TomatoBookworm



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bobbi’s physical rehab period post s2 finale, Emotional Aftermath of Violence, Established Relationship, Feels, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:01:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29569281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomatoBookworm/pseuds/TomatoBookworm
Summary: “I’m not going to apologize for wanting to protect the people I love.”
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Flowers and Garden Gnomes

**Author's Note:**

> \- Written for Quakerider Writers Guild 2021 Valentine’s Challenge. Prompt: Hydrangea, a flower symbolizing gratitude for being understood.
> 
> \- Real life intervened and I am late in posting this, but better late than never! Thank you to lazyfish/@bobbimorseisbisexual for the beta read and helped me redirect this fic! 
> 
> \- AU where Bobbi, Fitz, Hunter, and Jemma got together romantically sometime in season 2.

  
The training room was quiet except for the thud of fists meeting the punching bag. Fitz leaned against the door, careful not to make any noise. Bobbi turned to him anyway. She could always sense him. 

“Fitz.” Bobbi grabbed her water bottle from the side and took a drink. “Here to check on me?”

They both knew the answer was yes. Bobbi had been pushing herself way too hard after her injury. Jemma made a twenty slide presentation on the dangers of overexertion after major surgeries, with three pages of source citations attached. Hunter held back when Bobbi wanted to spar, resulting in a big shouting match. Fitz had to calm his stubborn loves separately, before coaxing them all into relaxing a little bit, which was why he didn’t respond to the question with her expected answer. 

“I have something for you.” Fitz walked over slowly with the briefcase. “Want to see it?”

“You mean it’s safe to open in public?” Bobbi’s shoulders loosened and she had the energy to tease him. “No more special gifts now that we are moving in together? The honeymoon period is over?”

Fitz tiptoed and kissed Bobbi on the lips, partly because she looked so damn gorgeous in her training tank top, and partly because of the question. Bobbi usually came across as the most confident one among the four of them, but he knew she had her scars too, physical and emotional. Even if she was jesting, he didn’t want her to think he would ever take her for granted. 

“If by special you mean bedroom, those gifts have to wait until we finish setting up the house and get our own private lab running. Remember the last time I tried to build a toy here?” Jemma had dragged both Fitz and Bobbi into a storage closet, then they decided to go find Hunter, not realizing how many people they would first encounter in the hallways. Having more privacy was one of the reasons he was looking forward to moving off base, among other things. “You and Jemma need to come up with a non-staining lipstick formula before we can have a mid-day makeout session again.”

“I don’t think so,” Bobbi smirked at him. “Jemma likes leaving her mark. The trick is to keep the lab coat clean, then you can cover all sorts of things.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.” Fitz opened the briefcase. “This isn’t that kind of special, but what do you think?”

“I love you,” Bobbi breathed. She took out the batons and inspected them. “You put in the biometrics lock like we talked about?”

“Yup, and the automatic return function too,” Fitz said. “You’ll need to practice with them for a bit to get used to the speed, but I think you’ll like the feature.”

“You are the best.” Bobbi twirled the batons in her hands, accustoming herself to their weight. “So you won’t try to talk me out of getting back into the field?”

“Jemma and Hunter weren’t telling you to stay in the lab either,” Fitz reminded her. “Only that you need to finish your physical rehab first. We won’t stop you from doing something you love. We just want you to be safe.”

“Hence the weapon upgrade.” Bobbi’s lips tilted up and her eyes lost their defensiveness. “Thank you. For understanding.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


The drive home was smooth. It felt strange in a good way, to call their new house home. Fitz never liked change, but he did miss his apartment when he first went into the field. It would be nice to have some separation between work and life again. Jemma was excited about having space off base. Bobbi was hesitant initially, wary that domestic life might reveal the weak points in their various relationships. Hunter had to corner her for a long private conversation. Fitz wasn’t privy to the details, but he made sure the four of them spent extra time cuddling that night. 

Speaking of Hunter, Fitz had been meaning to bring up something with Bobbi, and now was as good a time as any. She was leaning back against the headrest in the front passenger seat, her face relaxed though her eyes remained alert, scanning the cars around them. Fitz wondered if they would ever stop watching out for threats. Probably not. 

“Hey, have you noticed something off with Hunter lately?” Fitz asked. “He’s trying to act like everything’s normal, but he seems tense.”

“Moving into our own place takes a lot of work,” Bobbi said. “And no, I’m not talking about my previous experience with married life. Hunter and I discussed that to death already. It’s about securing a location outside of headquarters.”

“Daisy helped us run background checks on everyone in the neighborhood.” The worst security risk they could find was that one of the neighbors had an outdoor cat. Fitz had to relocate their cameras and booby traps three times out of curious feline reach. “We didn’t sleep there during renovations. I thought that would help.”

“It does,” Bobbi said. “Hunter can rest while we are staying in the base, but he’s on edge when we go out. Now that you’ve finished installing the security system, Hunter will be able to relax in the house. We trust you.”

“I know.” He wanted to deserve that trust too, which was why he spent so much time on the renovations. The four of them purposely picked an older single-level home in a neighborhood where most owners were rebuilding, so that their own modifications won’t attract attention. Installing hidden bullet-proof shutters behind all the windows took a lot longer than putting up new kitchen cabinets. “I won’t let anyone hurt you again. Any of you.”

Bobbi didn’t say anything. Fitz glanced at his girlfriend, who was giving him a look. He knew that look. 

“I’m not going to apologize for wanting to protect the people I love.”

“And I won’t apologize for taking a bullet,” Bobbi said. Fitz had to turn his eyes back on the road, but he heard the love and weariness in her voice. “We’ve talked about this. It’s why I didn’t tell Hunter to rest. He won’t listen when I’m out of commission and he’s the only one with field combat experience. Take today. Even with Ward in custody, there’s no way Hunter would let Jemma go off base on her own without him as backup.” 

“Even if he did, you or I would have shuffled our schedule to stay with Jemma,” Fitz acknowledged. “Alright, so we all have a hangup about protecting our partners. At least we understand one another.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


The house looked warm and welcoming when their car pulled into the driveway. Fitz glanced out of the driver side window before he parked in the garage, trying to figure out what changed since the morning. Hunter and Jemma did mention at breakfast that they were planning to visit some home improvement stores for their day off. 

“They painted the door,” Bobbi said as though she read his mind. “Jemma has been talking about wanting to add a pop of color to the house. I think the blue looks nice.”

“Ah, that’s it,” Fitz nodded. “They put plants in the front flower beds too.”

“Hydrangea,” Bobbi said. “They don’t require much maintenance so we don’t have to worry about yard work in between missions. The flowers are pretty. I don’t know about the garden gnomes though. Hunter and Jemma might have gone a little overboard with this cute English garden thing.”

They went inside. New and empty bookshelves lined one wall in the living room. Jemma had agreed to wait until they came home before unpacking the books. Bobbi might roll her eyes at Fitz and Jemma’s lab organizational system, but no one was allowed to mess up the order of her Star Wars novels. A media console also appeared beneath the large television. All their videos and games were already arranged neatly behind the glass doors. 

“They’ve been busy,” Fitz said. Jemma and Hunter didn’t come out when he and Bobbi stepped through the door though, and the house was too quiet. “Where are they?”

“Gardening, painting, and furniture building are sweaty work,” Bobbi smirked. “They’re probably cleaning up.”

Fitz grinned, “Shall we find them?”

“You’re the one who said no to shower sex earlier,” Bobbi reminded him. She had tossed him a look with clear invitation before heading into the bathroom on base. “Changed your mind?”

“I’ve only had one thing on my mind since I saw you in that tank top.” Fitz leaned against one of the bookshelves, glad of his partners’ workmanship so he’s less likely to fall on his face while trying to look suave. He wanted to follow Bobbi earlier, but he knew he wasn’t strong enough to catch both of them if her knee gave out. “And I’d like to show you in our big new bed. Hunter and Jemma can watch.”

“If you want to do missionary again because you’re afraid of hurting me, I swear I am going to leave you with blue balls,” Bobbi warned. 

“No missionary, got it.” Fitz moved closer to Bobbi and laid a kiss on her shoulder. He had wanted to do that back in the training room, seeing her muscles ripple as she pounded the punching bag. “I promise I have something else planned. The shower’s not running, which means Hunter and Jemma already moved on to the not getting dressed part. Let’s go distract them.”

Bobbi’s look was pure heat as she took his hand and led him to their bedroom. They opened the door, ready to rip each other’s clothes off and fully expected their partners to join in. Instead, they paused after the first step. 

Hunter and Jemma were in bed. Naked and quiet. Fitz would have thought they were enjoying post-coital cuddles except he didn’t smell the telltale sign of arousal in the air, and he knew his lovers’ scents by now. He exchanged a confused glance with Bobbi before approaching on his tipped toes. 

“It’s alright, he’s out cold,” Jemma said softly. Hunter let out a soft snore by her side and she stroked his back. “He’s been working too hard.”

Fitz settled on the other side of Hunter and kissed Jemma’s knuckles, careful not to upset her tracing pattern, “Everything went alright?”

“We had a wonderful day,” Jemma said. “Hunter and I found a great restaurant by the local nursery. We’ll take you and Bobbi there next time. Did you see the front garden? I’ve thought of a few additions to our home security system. More biological in nature.”

Bobbi laughed quietly, “I thought you picked hydrangea for the easy maintenance, not its toxicity. Are we going to find foxglove and hemlock in the backyard?”

“Of course not, we can’t count on our enemies being stupid enough to eat the lawn flowers,” Jemma said. “I was talking about the garden decorations. Fitz, remember our discussion on extending the defense system outside of the house? We don’t have the money to produce large quantities of ICER bullets ourselves, so I’ve been refining the dendrotoxin formula. I can now apply it to darts without losing the potency. The gnomes will be the perfect disguise for our delivery mechanism.”

“That’s an amazing idea,” Fitz said, somewhat relieved that Jemma didn’t decide to turn their lawn into a poisoner’s delight. Little stone men shooting poisoned darts sounded cooler. “You know, we can add other biological defenses as well. If we have a small monkey that’s trained to recognize intruders—”

“We are not getting a monkey,” Bobbi and Jemma said simultaneously. 

“Monkey?” Hunter mumbled in Jemma’s shoulder. “Fitz’s home? Bobbi?”

“We’re back,” Bobbi said, her voice soft. “You can rest.”

Fitz put his arm around Hunter, who made a contented noise and went back to sleep. Jemma’s fingers brushed Fitz’s skin as she continued to caress Hunter. Bobbi’s eyes met Fitz’s in wordless agreement. Lovemaking could wait till everyone’s awake. Right now, they were happy holding their partners. Everyone was home. 


End file.
